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Details
LOT 1058
Luristan Socketted Axehead
13TH-7TH CENTURY B.C.
3 3/8 in. (243 grams, 86 mm).
A small, heavy socketted bronze axehead with convex cutting edge. [No Reserve]
Provenance
English collection formed in the 1990s.
UK art market.
Property of an Essex gentleman.
Footnotes
Unadorned weapons, especially axes, adzes and picks, were made by Luristan craftsmen using simple clay or stone bivalve moulds, into which was inserted a core to form the socket for the shaft. Typically, the metallic composition consisted of a combination of arsenical bronze and copper, together with a small percentage of lead.
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Many examples of bronze axeheads are attributed to the Luristan culture and various shapes have been discussed by different scholars. Moorey (1971, pp.39-41) shows similar axeheads, stating that the texts executed on some specimens have shown them made of arsenical bronze, and attributes them to the late 3rd millennium B.C. or 2nd millennium B.C., period in which this alloy was used abundantly.
